Frame Panels

The PANEL command divides a frame into sections called panels. This allows you to have many separate image and graphics displays in a single frame. For example, you could use the IMGDISP command to display different bands of image data in each of the panels in a frame. Or you could create a four-panel forecast chart using the GRDDISP command to contour different parameters, levels, or valid times from forecast grids.

At startup, all frames are single-panel, meaning that image and graphic commands write output to the entire frame. Single-panel frames have a panel number of 1. In multipanel frames, all panels are the same size and are numbered from left to right and from top to bottom. For example, the command PANEL 2 2 configures the current frame to have four equal-size panels, with panel 1 in the upper-left quadrant, panel 2 in the upper-right quadrant, panel 3 in the lower-left quadrant, and panel 4 in the lower-right quadrant.

When image and graphic commands write output to a multipanel frame, the output appears in only one of the frame's panels. By default, the output appears in the panel where the cursor is located. Use the global keyword PAN to override the default and display the output in a different panel. For example, MAP USA PAN=3 displays the map on panel 3. Use the PAN keyword to specify input for commands as well. For example, IMGPROBE PAN=1 lists image data in panel 1.

The commands listed below deal with multipanel frames in ways that you may not expect.

CM, EB, EU and GU change the image or graphics colors in all panels because the frame uses a single color table.

FRMSAVE, SVF and RVF save or restore entire frames, even if you specify the global keyword PAN.

The commands listed below have features added specifically for dealing with multipanel frames.

EG lets you erase a range of panels by specifying beginning and ending panel numbers with the global keyword PAN.

FRMLIST has a FORM=PANEL keyword that lists the frame directory information and size of each panel. The other FRMLIST options list only information for a single panel.

ZA has a FULLFRAME=YES keyword that lets you write text to the entire frame instead of being restricted to one panel. This keyword is useful for labeling multipanel displays.